Light burst out from Hugo's body.
And everyone couldn't help but be surprised at the sight of the divinity being absorbed into his body.
But the most startled one was the person who ate the divinity.
"Cough...! No!!"
Realizing what he had eaten, Hugo tried to spit it out immediately, but the slime flashed up and stomped down on Hugo's head.
Crack!
Then the divinity core that had entered his mouth went straight down his throat.
"Khk! Uk!"
In fact, there were two ways to use a divinity.
The first method was simply to use it while possessing the core.
Of course, this method treated the divinity temporarily, so there were limits to using its divine power and one couldn't inherit the subordinate gods. There was also the risk of it being taken away.
The second method was to devour the divinity and make it entirely one's own.
In other words, the moment Hugo ate this divinity, it was as good as inheriting it.
But.
"Yah! Why of all things did you make me eat...!!"
The divinities that Igeon had given and left behind were three.
[Ares, who incites rebellion and fighting.]
[Hermes, to whom every place is beneath his feet.]
[Aphrodite, who governs beauty.]
And what the slime had shoved into his mouth was none other than the owner of that divinity!
So he was perplexed.
Even though the slime often did strange things, it never did anything harmful to Igeon.
In fact, it almost always acted for Igeon's sake.
But that bastard!
"This bastard, of all things, fed me Aphrodite... Khk!"
Soon, Hugo writhed in pain as the divinity spread inside his body.
As the divinity was transferred, its divine power and subordinate gods were linking.
[Divinity: Aphrodite (Mistress of Praise)]
[Divine Name: Hymn of Absolute Beauty]
[Divine Power is being transferred]
[and 6 other types]
At that sight, the Goddesses of Fate grabbed their bellies and laughed.
Because they had read Hugo's karma, they knew very well his past appearance.
Although the past was locked and they couldn't view all of it, Hugo was a subordinate god who had killed countless gods, including snake gods, like bugs.
He treated both humans and gods as insects except for the master he served, but his abilities were that of an elite.
Of course, if a divinity didn't suit him, he could just kill and extract it. And in the first place, this was a precious divinity that would be a shame to throw away.
"Goodness, it's the first time I've seen a male god claim that divinity!"
"What kind of mutant will come out of this?"
"Mutant, what mutant? No matter what, it's the strong divinity of a ruling god. He probably won't even be able to use its power..."
"No, in the first place, do you think a mere human can handle the divinity of a ruling god? His body will just explode..."
But right at that moment.
Pang!!
!
At the fierce arrow flying in, the Goddesses of Fate widened their eyes.
The power of the ruling god they thought he couldn't use came flying.
"That bastard...!"
"Damn! Block it!"
As the arrow of absolute accuracy flew, the goddesses immediately went on guard, but right then.
Puhng!
......!!
The moment the ferociously flying arrow hit her head, it turned into a heart-shaped light.
Puhng-puhng-puhng!
Hugo's eyes widened at the arrow whose power had vanished, and at the spectacle that would only be seen at a banquet, the goddesses laughed.
"Damn, did we get startled for nothing!"
"Ugh, one more shot!"
"Huh, don't you know it's futile no matter how much you shoot..."
That was the moment the goddesses tried to interfere with Hugo's fate.
Thud!
The goddesses got goosebumps at the sudden murderous aura they felt.
'What is this feeling.'
It was a killer intent that seemed to crush even them. Startled, they looked at Hugo.
'Could that bastard be...?'
Just as the flustered goddesses were about to deal with Hugo, they were surprised for a different reason.
"W-wait! That's...!"
It was because of the slime riding on Hugo's head.
The slime was holding a massive mass of light. And that was the large and magnificent thing of the Creator that Igeon had brought out earlier.
It was the power of the Creator that the Goddesses of Fate had kept in their laboratory all along to revive the Creator.
And as the slime tried to bestow it upon Hugo, the goddesses were horrified.
"No! That's power we managed to secretly extract from the Ennead!"
"Catch him! I don't care if you kill him!"
The goddesses tried to bring down Hugo, but right at that moment.
Thud!
Suddenly, the goddesses froze at the power seeping out of Hugo's body.
And the moment they saw his face, the goddesses were startled.
As expected, his eyes had changed.
They were eyes like those of a monster that devours gods.
......!
That wasn't all.
Boom!
As the dormant ferocious energy surged, the Goddesses of Fate momentarily lost their breath.
'Isn't that the aura of a predator!'
'How did...'
But whether the goddesses were flustered or not, the slime shoved the large and magnificent thing of the Creator into Hugo's head.
Hugo screamed, but soon a strange hallucination was heard.
[Subdue your killing instinct]
It was like the voice of a master suppressing a subordinate.
At the same time, Hugo's changed eyes and aura returned to normal, and an amazing thing happened.
[Preserve beauty]
An incredibly strong power surged.
[Divinity level rises]
[Level of the Serpent Bearer constellation rises]
And the powerful force Hugo emitted exploded upon the goddesses.
Lachesis (Present) flinched at the intense light, but soon laughed as she found no harm to her body.
"Huh, no matter what your past life was, you're a human now..."
But the moment she turned her head, Lachesis (Present) stiffened.
It was because Clotho (Past), who had trapped Igeon in the past, had frozen like a doll.
"Sister!"
At the same time, Lachesis realized.
'That bastard...!'
The [Mistress of Praise: Preservation] could preserve something into what one considered beautiful and cool.
As evidence, the former Mistress of Praise, who thought bleeding appearances were the most beautiful, could harm her opponents, couldn't she?
And.
......!
The fallen Clotho (Past) had transformed into the appearance of Igeon!
Even a fierce Igeon with long hair!
At that sight, Hugo's blood vessels bulged, the Virgo goddess seemed surprised, but the Mistress of the Scorching Flames acted as if she knew.
"Ah, isn't that the appearance of Igeon when Hugo first met him?"
"What?!"
That's the appearance when Igeon tore apart the monster and saved Hugo, who was about to be devoured.
And it seemed to be the form from when Hugo thought it was the coolest thing in the world to tear apart monsters, and he was so smitten that he asked to become his master.
"But why does he look like a woman with long hair?"
"Ah, at first, when Hugo was dying, he mistook Igeon for a woman. Because of the monster fur he had on his head."
"Ah."
That wasn't all.
[Mistress of Praise has evolved into a new High-ranking Subordinate God]
[New traits are granted]
[Affects all believers belonging to Serpent Bearer]
[Faith (Love, Madness) increases]
[A new subordinate organization has been created. The growth of the subordinates raises the rank of Serpent Bearer]
Clotho (Past), who had transformed into Igeon's prime, immediately attacked Lachesis (Present).
Kwa-jik!!
"Uh, sister!!"
"Die!!"
?!
Clotho (Past), possessed by Hugo's ideal, recognized Lachesis as an enemy and tried to kill her.
And she was even as strong as Igeon!
As such, Lachesis could only grind her teeth.
'If I attack, my sister will die.'
The power of the [Mistress of Praise] was the ability to change the enemy into one's ideal image.
And the previous Mistress of Praise turned enemies into bloodied figures, so Hugo must have bloomed into making enemies into [Igeon].
Thanks to that, the Mistress of the Full Moon who saw it thought.
'Maybe they really can bring back the rulebook.'
Though she had told them about the existence of the rulebook first, who knows.
It wasn't for nothing that the holy gods groveled to the great gods and offered tributes and earned profits.
[The great gods promote legislation]
[The Goddesses of Fate add that law to the rulebook]
Because the collusion between the two was fearsome, the holy gods couldn't move against either the great gods or the Goddesses of Fate.
So if one were to steal the rulebook, she had thought only Serpent Bearer, who feared no one, could do it.
But in reality, she narrowed her brows as she looked at Hugo.
"Luis, you don't mean you knew his past life and chose him as a saint?"
"What does it matter?"
!
The cycle of life and death is the jurisdiction of the divine realm.
"I knew he had accumulated karma, but the ones who can know that past would be the Mahabharata side that runs [Myeoneura's Pond] or the Goddesses of Fate."
Among gods, those who have accumulated karma are sent to [Myeoneura's Pond] and must be reborn as other creatures to wash away their karma before they can be reborn as gods again.
But.
"If they are human, they are the lowest grade in the divine realm's reincarnation cycle. They are beings with no chance of ever returning to godhood."
Beasts do not accumulate karma while living, so they can clear their karma. But humans are different.
Humans are creatures of greed, so they continuously accumulate karma while living.
Thus, even when humans die, they either return to dust or become mere components of the divine realm— the lowest grade.
It was a grade that gods also avoided reincarnating into.
That's why the Mistress of the Scorching Flames also chose Hugo as a saint without concern for his karma.
Since, if she used and discarded him, it wouldn't affect them anyway because he was human.
But.
"That power just now..."
The Virgo holy god furrowed her brows as if thinking about something, but it was only for a moment.
"Well, that's not what's important now."
"What?"
The Virgo holy god immediately snapped her fingers.
"Family Shield (Serpent Bearer skill rental)!"
Then the Mistress of the Scorching Flames was lifted up with a flash and became a shield for the Virgo holy god.
At the same time, from the lightning Lachesis unleashed, Luis foamed at the mouth and fainted.
It was then.
"Die!"
Hugo and the Virgo holy god lunged simultaneously to deal with the remaining Lachesis (Present).
* * *
Around the same time.
Igeon could only stare at the dangling [Monarch of the Past] in disbelief.
'To think you died.'
In the end, unusually flustered, he slapped the [Monarch of the Past]'s cheeks.
"Ya ya ya, you're not the type to die this quickly. Stop playing dead and get up!"
If the [Monarch of the Past] dies here, his future will change.
In short, Igeon, the [13th Hero], will disappear, and all ties from that will change completely.
Of course, if the [Monarch of the Past], who was the leader, dies, the other monarchs who came with him might all disappear as well, but who knows.
'There's no way the other monarchs will leave Earth just because the [Monarch of the Past] disappears.'
No, rather, a new monarch might invade.
In other words, the 13th Hero, Igeon, had to exist in the future.
Only then could he kill the Red Eyes and also kill monarchs and save humanity 20 years later.
So Igeon was inwardly flustered.
'Why did this bastard become so weak?'
Of course, it wasn't that the [Monarch of the Past] had become weak; it was that Igeon had become stronger in the meantime.
But Igeon narrowed his brows.
'Could it be related to the fact that I killed 18,732 [Monarchs of the Past] across all dimensions?'
Well, that wasn't what was important now.
"Duplicate! Duplicate!"
Since he had already stolen the [Monarch of the Past]'s divine power, the future could change.
So Igeon used the 3rd-stage Life Divinity [Duplication] to duplicate time.
Since it was duplicating the original as is, it would have the same abilities and memories.
And.
"You, now..."
Crack!!
Igeon knocked out the duplicate he created, and swapped it with the dead [Monarch of the Past]. Placing a substitute.
As a bonus, he erased his own memories with the [Monarch of the Past]'s data.
Then, as if displeased, Igeon kicked the [Monarch of the Past]'s face with a crack, and slung the original [Monarch of the Past] over his shoulder.
Having also acquired the power of time, Igeon hurriedly left the scene before the duplicate woke up.
'Well, I could just use the power to return to my original time...'
Suddenly, Igeon became concerned about his family.
And well, that was because today was the day Junwoo would die in their place.
So Igeon immediately headed to where Junwoo would die.
'The place where Junwoo dies is a street exactly opposite from home.'
As Igeon moved by lightly jumping over buildings, his eyes widened.
'Found him.'
Having landed lightly on a utility pole, Igeon spotted Junwoo being chased by the subordinate gods of the Magic God constellation.
It looked like he was deliberately luring them elsewhere to avoid revealing Yeonu and his own existence.
Seeing that scene, Igeon's heart ached.
If it were up to him, he wanted to kill all those subordinate gods right there and save Junwoo, but he had to endure it.
'I'll find you again soon.'
Just as I found Yeonu, I will definitely revive Junwoo, who was another snake.
That's why Igeon was trying to confirm where the soul of Yeonu, who died here, was heading.
Because now would be the time to know.
But right then.
"What's this, a god I haven't seen before? Which faction are you from?"
......!
With a familiar voice, strange groups appeared behind Igeon.
And at their presence, Igeon's eyes grew wide.
It couldn't be helped.
They were neither subordinate gods of the Twelve Zodiacs, nor even forces of an unknown civilization.
'Hermes.'
What was there were gods of the divine realm.
With familiar faces: Hermes, and...
[Divinity: Valkyrie (Valhalla/Subordinate God)]
[Divinity: Thoth (Ennead/Holy God)]
[Divinity: Anubis (Ennead/Holy God)]
Except for the Valkyrie, they were all transformed into young boy avatars, but it was unmistakable.
'Those holy gods of the divine realm.'
At the same time, Igeon's eyes changed to snake eyes and turned menacing.
It couldn't be helped.
'Could it be that these were the ones who found and leaked the locations of Junwoo and Yeonu...'
It was plausible.
Especially since the Gemini and Pisces constellations, who sought out and tried to kill Junwoo and Yeonu—the holy gods of those two Magic God constellations originally belonged to Valhalla and the Ennead.
And why would holy gods, not even subordinate gods, be here?
'If a holy god came here, the other Twelve Zodiac holy gods present would have raged and kicked them out first.'
That means these are beings tolerated by those holy gods. And further, beings connected to this incident.
Sure enough, the Valkyrie spoke.
"State your affiliation. Given that you smell like a human, are you a passing low-rank subordinate god?"
"What's that slung over your shoulder?"
At Anubis's question, Igeon glared at them.
'Anubis is the guide of the dead who leads souls to the underworld.'
And the fact that no matter how much I summoned, I couldn't find Junwoo's soul... could it be...
As that thought came, they sternly asked.
"Low-rank subordinate god. We're asking which faction and who you are."
"Do you dare not answer the questions of holy gods?"
At those words, Igeon smiled.
"Me?"
!
"You want to know?"
The corners of Igeon's lips rose chillingly.
(Continued in the next episode)
※For this episode's appearance of Igeon when he first met Hugo, it will be helpful to see Extra Episode 3.